Series Authority Procedures

1. Receive monthly printout of unauthorized series from authorities librarian.

2. Using series search, call up bibliographic record(s) for unauthorized series.

3. Search OCLC authority file or Validator TM for record to match series tracing. Verify that publisher of the series in the authority record is the same as in our bibliographic record. If you are sure you have a match, export the series authority record.

4. Take note of the class number on our bibliographic record. Is the series classed separately or as a set? If we classify the series as a set, be sure that the series call no. is present in the 090 field in the series authority record. If there is a variance between our classification practice and LC's (e.g., LC classifies the series as a set and we do it separately, or vice versa) make a note of this by the series on the printout.

5. If the series form is different in OCLC from the form on our bib records, and you think it may be the same series, make a printout of the OCLC authority record and give to authorities librarian. Put a question mark by the series on the printout. If you know that the series in our bib record is in incorrect form, change it to match the form in the authority record. Be sure that you change all instances of the incorrect form in WorkFlows.

6. Some series in the OCLC authority file are in author/title format. Local practice : USM does not authorize series in author/title form; we use title entry for all series. If you find an author/title series record, we will need to create a local authority record under the series title, with a cross reference from the author/title form-in other words, our practice will "flip" the title and author/title fields in the OCLC authority record. We can't just download the record and do this in WorkFlows because it involves changing the record format from name to title, which is difficult to do in our system. Example:

In Validator: 100 10 Blank, Clair.|tBeverly Gray college mystery series

Heading as it should appear in our bibliographic records:

440 0 Beverly Gray college mystery series

Heading and cross-reference as they should appear in our local authority record:

When you encounter an author/title series, write "author/title" next to the series on the printout and go on to the next record. Check the bibliographic record(s) to be sure that the series is in the correct format; change from author/title to a title entry if needed.

7. If you do not find an authority record, highlight the series on the printout. When you have finished exporting records for all the series for which you can find a match, go back and create original authority records for the series that lack matches and for any series that have author/title records in Validator. See the examples below for authority record format.

Creating a Series Authority Record in WorkFlows

Click the Create Authority icon. On the Set Properties tab, select TITLE as the authority format and AUTHORIZED as the authorization level. Type MUS in the SOURCE box. An example of the resulting control tab is below.

new authority ID:XX1545381

created by:BIB_SERV03

date created: 12/5/2002

modified by:BIB_SERV03

date authorized:NEVER

prev modified by:BIB_SERV03

date modified: 12/9/2002

format:TITLE

authorization level:AUTHORIZED

source:MUS

When creating the authority record, fill in the fixed fields as below. The values will be the same from record to record, except for the date; the SER_NUM field, which is coded a if the series is numbered and b if it is not; and the REF_EVAL field, which is coded a if there are cross references and n if there are none. Enter dates in the ENTRD field in the form YYMMDD.

REC_TYPE:z

ENC_LVL :n

STATUS :n

ENTRD :021205

DIR/IND :n

ROMAN :

AUTHTYPE :a

RULES :c

SYS/THES :n

SER_TYPE :a

SER_NUM :b

NAME_USE :b

SUBJ_USE :b

SER_USE :a

SUBDIV :n

GOVT_AGN :

REF_EVAL :n

UPD_PROC :a

UNIQNAME :n

LEVL_EST :a

MOD_REC :

SOURCE :d

040 MUS|cMUS130 0 Did you know?643 Ashland , Ohio|bLandoll644 f|5MUS645 t|5MUS646 s|5MUS667 kw670 David and the very scary giant, c1994.

The 643 field includes the place of publication and the publisher (with no punctuation between them, just a |b; there are other types of punctuation in older records). The 644 field indicates whether the series is analyzed; most of our records will be coded f for fully analyzed. The 645 field, coded t , indicates that we trace the series. The 646 field will vary depending on whether we class the series together or separately. Most series will be coded s for classed separately; series that are classed together are coded c . If we class a series as a set, there should also be a call number in the 050 or 090 field of the authority record (example below). Add your initials in the 667 (note) field. The 670 field cites the title of the record that contains the heading being established and the date. You may see authority records that cite the source of the heading (t.p., cover, etc.) in the 670; since our local authority records are usually created without the book in hand, this information is omitted from local 670 fields. Brackets are not used in 670 fields, so even if the date is bracketed in the 260 of the bib record, you would not use brackets in the 670.

Note the 530 field in the above example. This is a "see also" reference to an earlier form of the series title, indicated by the a in the |w subfield. If you are creating a series authority record that needs cross references to an earlier or later form of the series title, see authorities librarian.

Example of authority record for an author/title series with a cross reference from the author's name: